The Self-Regulatory System in South Africa
There is always need for self-regulation. It is key to a democracy, media that controls and evaluates themselves means that there is no censorship from the government. The problem arises in the fact that because they regulate themselves; the councils put in place to regulate the media may be lenient towards the media. And also, because media are first and foremost corporations they are most likely to be self-serving rather than self-deprecating. Another important problem that arises in the debate of media self-regulation is marginalization of the poor. Because the media are more likely to be self-serving, they may favour the elites over the poor.
Self or peer regulation is what was present in South Africa from the 1994 elections to 2007 when the ANC proposed a Media Appeals Tribunal. Self-regulation is good in that the government is not involved in the regulation and apprehension of ethical transgressions. But, at the same time, a big problem arises in that the media are regulating themselves which is not particularly good because they are not going to be harsh on themselves.
In the document, Media transformation, Ownership and Diversity, the ANC criticises the South African media’s self-regulatory model. The fact that the media are first and foremost corporations is incredibly important. Following the recent decline in print media consumption, journalistic standards have dropped following budget cuts by the corporations. (Duncan, 2014, p. 170) Because of the former self-regulatory model, the ANC were concerned that journalists would not call each other out on lapses of ethical conduct.
Another problem with the self-regulatory model is that it funds itself. Giving media power t...
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Over the centuries, the media has played a significant role in the shaping of societies across the globe. This is especially true of developed nations where media access is readily available to the average citizen. The media has contributed to the creation of ideologies and ideals within a society. The media has such an effect on social life, that a simple as a news story has the power to shake a nation. Because of this, governments around the world have made it their duty to be active in the regulation and control of media access in their countries. The media however, has quickly become dominated by major mega companies who own numerous television, radio and movie companies both nationally and internationally. The aim of these companies is to generate revenue and in order to do this they create and air shows that cater to popular demand. In doing so, they sometimes compromise on the quality of their content. This is where public broadcasters come into perspective.
The media censorship appears in various forms and in almost all countries; few have legal systems that guarantee absolute freedom of the media.
First, the role of the media is to represent the public and intervene between the public and the government. The media is a mirror, which re...
One of the fundamental roles of the media in a liberal democracy is to critically scrutinise governmental affairs: that is to act as a watchdog of government to ensure that the government can be held accountable by the public. However, the systematic deregulation of media systems worldwide is diminishing the ability of citizens to meaningfully participate in policymaking process governing the media (McChesney, 2003, p. 126). The relaxation of ownership rules and control, has resulted in a move away from diversity of production to a situation where media ownership is becoming increasing concentrated by just a few predominantly western global conglomerates (M...
One way in which government achieves this objective, is by its ability to misuse the media’s ability to set the agenda. Contrary to popular belief, media is in fact an enormous hegemony. In fact, separate independent news organizations do not exist. Rather than creating an independent structured agenda of their own, generally lesser smaller news organizations adapt to a prepared agenda, previously constructed by a higher medium. Based upon this information alone, it is quite apparent that media functions in adherence to the characteristics of a hierarchy.
Voices That Must Be Heard! 2003. The 'Secondary' of the 'Secondary' of the 'Secondary' of the Independent Press Association. 14 September 2003 <http://www.indypressny.org>.
Media is the most powerful sector of an economy. It is a tool to maintain a balanced society which is characterized by well informed people, effective democracy and social justice. In fact, media has unparallel influence on all aspects of human life in modern times.
An argument can be made that Journalism is one of the very few professions in the world of media that is handled with some sort of dignity and pride. After reading “The Elements of Journalism” by Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel, I realized how important journalism is to each and every one of us. Whether you’re a writer or a reader, the back and forth exchange between provider and consumer is extremely important in pushing society forward. Journalism after all is designed to challenge society, promote new ideas and spark conversation between one another. Despite the positives of journalism, there are issues that exist within the profession that cannot be excused and cannot be ignored.
In this assignment I will be studying the ways bodies regulate the media. Media regulation is the regulation of the media, such as enforcing rules and regulations and how they deal with the breakers of these rules.
There are two distinct sides to the debate of journalism, their journalists, and the consumers: traditional journalism and public journalism. In the current digital age there is a greater number of public journalism being practiced. However, journalists and their consumers run into several issues concerning that matter. To express more clearly, there are particular roles and characteristics in which journalism standards are being gauged.
"Journalism Ethics Online Journalism Ethics Gatekeeping." Journalism Ethics for the Global Citizen. Web. 05 Dec. 2010. .
Media is used by dominant powers to spread their ideological beliefs and to help maintain social control. Althusser (1971) explains that, as an ideological state apparatus, media doesn’t use pressure as a way to bind society together under one dominant ideology, but instead uses the will of the people to make them accept the dominant ideology. However, media is also used as a way for people to challenge the dominant ideology. Newspapers, for example, will have articles that openly criticise and oppose the dominant ideology for what it is, whilst at the same time providing perspectives and opinions on different ideologies (such as feminism) that society can believe in. Although these alternate ideological perspectives exist, they are usually overlooked and only ever reach small audiences. Ideology can also help us understand the media because of the way in which it distributes ideology. A lot of different types of media, such as film and TV; reflect different ideologies, though we are not always aware that they are doing so. An example of this would be action/adventure films, which shows that using force or violence to solve problems is acceptable and reflects upon certain ideologies. This helps us to understand the media because the ideology that is reflected in these films is capable of reaching big audiences through the use of TV and film, thus allowing for it to become a more common belief within
Media has become a powerful source of knowledge, and a great breakthrough in human history. Who can regret that media is a daily need in our lives. Media has the ability and control to adjust to all levels of knowledge in people. Media helps us to escape from our daily lives and our problems in times of stress. Thou Media as proved to be beneficial by educating, entertaining and informing us, it has also have its downfall, to cause many bad influences to the younger audience. Media has influenced us to conduct bad behavior, breed violence among teens and fear to the public, thus causing a lot of negative conflicts among ourselves. Television, Music, Internet, and more, are just some of the media exposure that needs to be censored and controlled. Media needs to be restricted, so that it doesn’t expose certain content to the wrong audience. Therefore media should be censored, so that we are able to protect our children from certain media exposure.
Meyers, C. (2010). The 'Standard Journalism ethics: a philosophical approach? Oxford University Press. Nordenstreng. K. (1995)
India has the largest democracy in the world and media has a powerful presence in the country. In recent times, Indian media has been subject to a lot of criticism for the manner in which they have disregarded their social responsibility. Dangerous business practices in the field of media have affected the fabric of Indian democracy. Big industrial conglomerates in the business of media have threatened the existence of pluralistic viewpoints. Post liberalisation, transnational media organisations have spread their wings in the Indian market with their own global interests. This has happened at the cost of an Indian media which was initially thought to be an agent of ushering in social change through developmental programs directed at the non-privileged and marginalised sections of the society. Though media has at times successfully played the role of a watchdog of the government functionaries and has also aided in participatory